In her update on March 8, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Alberta, said the province has given out over 779,000 doses of vaccine, and that bookings are open for all birth years for people with severe medical conditions. A list of those special conditions can be found on alberta.ca. 

Albertans aged 55 to 64 will be able to book appointments for the AstraZeneca vaccine through AHS. 

She explained that the province has identified 717 new cases of variants of concern in the province. 

In terms of the variants in the province, she said that many Albertans feel information overload about variants and that others have many questions. She noted that there are three variant strains that have the province very concerned: the B117 variant from the UK, the B1351 variant from South Africa, and the P1 variant identified in Brazil. 

“These three variants of concern are more transmissible than the earlier form of the virus,” said Hinshaw. 

“All three vaccines we currently have available are effective at stopping the variant that is most common in Alberta, the B117,” she said. 

She explained that the B117 makes up about 99 per cent of all variant cases in Alberta. 

She said effective right away they will start offering testing twice to close contacts of all confirmed cases, regardless of what strain they were exposed to. 

She said in the meantime that people should continue to limit their contact with others, especially indoors and that the new restrictions will bend the curve if everyone pulls together.